


In which Remus needs to be reassured

by Esinde Nayrall (red_squared)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-07-12
Updated: 2007-07-12
Packaged: 2017-10-19 16:47:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/203019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/red_squared/pseuds/Esinde%20Nayrall
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>See title.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In which Remus needs to be reassured

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shaggydogstail](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shaggydogstail/gifts).



> For [](http://shaggydogstail.livejournal.com/profile)[**shaggydogstail**](http://shaggydogstail.livejournal.com/), who gave the following prompt:  **You'd do it if you loved me...**
> 
> Originally posted [**here**](http://red-squared.livejournal.com/56064.html).

“ _What_ did you just say to me?”

“I said, ‘You’d do it if you loved me’,” he says again.

“How dare you,” Sirius spits.

He looks up at Sirius for the first time and realises that Sirius’ tone hadn’t been one of mock outrage. No. This is real outrage. Sheer, pure fury.

“How _dare_ you make fun of the way I feel about you,” Sirius adds, storming over to him and snatching up the glass phial.

“Careful with that!”

The small stones inside the phial rattle against one another as Sirius flips the top off, and taps his wand against the glass. Instantly, the stones start smouldering and crumbling.

“Shut up, Remus,” Sirius says, his harsh tone at odds with the gentle way in which he is lifting Remus’ shirt up and baring his back. “Just shut up.”

“They only gave me one phial. I can’t - ” he cuts off as Sirius presses a hand against his back, urging him to lean forward, over the back of the sofa.

“I told you to shut up,” Sirius says firmly, giving him another push so that he’s folded nearly in half over the back of the sofa.

Stretching out with his hands, he braces himself on the cushions.

“Well? Hurry up! You have to do it while they’re still hot or else it won’t - ” Sirius brings the tip of the phial down onto his back, and he almost screams as the stones touch his skin.

“Did I say you could speak?” Sirius asks, carefully burning Remus’ registration number onto his back with the smouldering stones. “I honestly have to wonder, some days, whether you’re not a whole lot stupider than I’ve been giving you credit for all these years.”

“I’m not stupid,” he whimpers, sniffing at the acrid smell in the room and realising that it’s the smell of his flesh being branded.

“ _Gelidus_.” Sirius rubs his thumb over the beginning of the mark. He’s cast the Freezing Charm on his hand, and his touch brings instant relief to Remus’ skin, off-setting the burn and numbing the surrounding flesh. “You _are_ stupid. I stopped playing Quidditch at school so I could spend more time with you because I love you. I put up with your mother nattering on at me about Wicca and I don’t tell her she can’t be a witch just because she _wants_ to be one because I love you. I don’t say anything about the way you cut my hair because I love you.”

“What’s wrong with the way I - ”

“Shut. Up,” Sirius growls, before finally, _finally_ setting the phial aside and pressing his frozen palm across the entire mark. “I do lots of things because I love you. Burning the Ministry’s registration number into your skin so that they can keep track of you,” Sirius continues, pulling him up so that he is standing up straight, with Sirius’ arm around him and Sirius’ palm still cradling his back, “is not and will never be one of those things.”

“But you do love me,” he says, finally daring to look at Sirius’ face and flinching when he sees that Sirius still looks furious.

Sirius looks at him and his frown deepens. “You have to _ask_? You really are stupider than I thought you were.”

“It wasn’t a question,” he says, resting his head on Sirius’ shoulder and winding his arms around Sirius’ body. “You _do_ love me.”

“Yes,” Sirius says, kissing the top of his head and hugging him fiercely, his hand still blessedly cool and comforting against the numbers starting to blister up on Remus’ skin. “I do.”

**Author's Note:**

> All comments and kudos are appreciated and treasured -- even (especially?) on a fic as old as this one!


End file.
